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'Hawks shut out Canucks, send series back to Chicago

Apr 22, 2011 - 7:12 AM Vancouver, BC (Sports Network) - Corey Crawford stopped 36 shots for his first career playoff shutout, and Duncan Keith added two goals as Chicago once again staved off elimination with a surprising 5-0 victory over Vancouver in Game 5 of this Western Conference quarterfinal set from Rogers Arena.

Marian Hossa added a pair of tallies and Patrick Kane also lit the lamp for the Blackhawks, who scored five times in the game's first 25 minutes to win their second straight in the series after losing the first three.

Crawford also picked up an assist as Chicago posted its largest margin of victory in a shutout win in franchise playoff history.

Roberto Luongo was pulled for the second straight contest, this time after allowing four goals on 12 shots in 21-plus minutes for the Canucks, who have been outscored 12-2 over their last two chances to eliminate the defending champions.

Cory Schneider yielded one score on 14 shots for the remainder of the tilt.

"We've lost two games here and obviously there's going to be a lot of questions on our group coming from the head coach and the other coaches, but I've got tremendous faith in these players and a tremendous belief in what they can do. It's up to us now to go out there and not say it, but do it," Canucks head coach Alain Vigneault said.

Game 6 is set for Sunday night in Chicago.

Chicago killed off a penalty just 16 seconds into the contest, then took a 1-0 lead on a power play of its own at 5:54 when Hossa blasted a shot by Luongo from the high slot.

Just 24 seconds later, the Blackhawks doubled their advantage on Keith's laser from the left point.

"I think we are just trying to build it one game at a time," Keith said.

It was 3-0 on yet another advantage for the visitors, when Keith's point blast was tipped in front by Kane at 12:17, then Luongo had to make two great saves in short order -- the latter when he sprawled out to halt Patrick Sharp's short-handed breakaway with 3 1/2 minutes left in the first.

Hossa then broke in alone and roofed a shot over Luongo's glove at 1:26 of the second period and it was a four-goal Chicago edge.

Schneider was called on, but Keith made it 5-0 on a hard, low shot from just below the right circle just before the five-minute mark.

Crawford was good on all 10 Vancouver shots in the first period, then added 11 more stops in the second.

Sharp was denied on another clean break during a Vancouver power play with seven minutes played in the third period, but the Canucks offense continued to sputter despite pressure in the Chicago zone.

Jannik Hansen's left-circle wrister was snatched away by Crawford with 1:45 to go, and it was the last good opportunity of Vancouver's 15 third-period shots.

Game Notes

Antti Niemi recorded the last Chicago postseason shutout, a 3-0 win at Nashville on April 22, 2010...Blackhawks defenseman Brent Seabrook was out of the lineup again, still hurting from that hit from behind by Canucks forward Raffi Torres in Game 3...This was Vancouver's largest playoff shutout defeat since dropping a 6-0 home decision to St. Louis on April 10, 2003 in their Western quarterfinal opener...Keith added two assists for a career-best four- point game...Sharp was credited with a pair of helpers...The Sedin twins played a combined 32 minutes, took five shots and were a minus-2.